Ms Cherry
by Kays3r
Summary: The only way I speak is through my fists and though I cannot see through them, I see enough to know there are times when I can and cannot use them. For good or bad. For relief or anger. That is why I, Sakura Haruno, am a contender in an underground fight club. AU-ish. Some OOC. Rated M for a reason. I DO NOT OWN THE COVER PIC!
1. Ms Cherry vs TaYu

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

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Chapter 1: Ms. Cherry vs. TaYu

"Alright everyone! May I have your attention please," the announcer started. "We'll get into the last round of tonight's fights. In the red corner, we have Ms. Cherry and in the blue corner, we have TaYu." Just as the announcer was about to step out of the arena his voice rang out again.

"Oh and try not to spill so much of your blood everywhere; its' hard to scrub off, y'know." He chuckled to himself.

Ms. Cherry stood at the height of 5 foot 5 inches and had deep forest green eyes. She wore a red sports bra with a deep dip at the back, exposing her pronounced shoulder blades. She also wore a short black spandex and strapping around her left forearm; starting from under her elbow to her wrist. Her waist length was in two French braids, having the top to bottom of braided black hair with pink tips. But the most intriguing feature of her body was the tattooed kanji's on her back, going down her spine. It read, '_I am my own demon_.' The deepest black ink in contrast with her pale yet slightly tanned skin.

TaYu was a head shorter than Cherry, at the height of 5 feet with a pair of dark mahogany colored eyes. She had on a blue sports bra with black lining; at the back the fabric was in the form of a 'Y', also showing two more straps of a second light purple bra underneath. She wore black spandex that stopped just above her knees. She was also wearing a black beanie with white strapping around her head, making a patch of hair fall in between the creases of her eyebrows. Her light crimson colored hair was in a loose ponytail and two bangs framing her tanned colored skin from the sides of her oval shaped face. Her hands were strapped up from her knuckles to her small wrists, acting as fingerless gloves. She has a tattoo of a flute on her left hip and unknown markings on the left side of her neck.

The said women stared the other down from their temporary territories as the crowd were cheering and banging on the caged octagon with cylinder padding on the edges of the fences. Their eyes making contact; emerald clashed with brown. Some of the men in the audience were also betting on who will come out victorious. As the announcer made his way out, both women did their last minute stretches. The referee replaced the announcer and took his place between the girls with each of his arms pointing to the fighters.

"Fighters are you ready?" The ref asked in a gruff voice.

He wore a sleeveless muscle shirt and black track pants. He also had on a blue bandana that covered his bald head and was tied in a tight knot at the back. He wasn't the most attractive man in the world, with all the scars on his face but they do tell a story of what he's been through in his life.

Both contenders nod and take their fighting stances.

"Remember ladies, you must get up before your opponent has time to pounce on you. If you are too late, your opponent will have an advantage and I will stop this fight when I see that you're not responding," he states the rules while looking between the two women.

Ms. Cherry nods and brings her fists in front of her face; left in front of right and rolls her neck. She inwardly sizes up her opponent, calculating the easiest place to land a hit on her and how to counter her if she makes the first move.

TaYu smirks and folds her arms, '_little Ms. Cherry Bitch here looks easy heh,' _she mentally says to herself._ 'Don't know what boss was talking about, I could practically break this girl with my pinky. I maybe short but I can pack a punch__,__' _Tayu vows to herself as she nods; she only hope to show Cherry what she's got when she sees her determined eyes.

"Red corner, are you ready?"

Ms. Cherry nods.

"Blue corner, are you ready?"

TaYu shows cocky smile but nods none the less.

The ref nods and points his arm to the air and brings it down, "FIGHT!"

"BEAT HER FUCKING HEAD IN, CHERRY!"

"YOU GOT THIS, TAYU!"

"FUCK HER UP, TAYU! NO MERCY!"

"I WANT TO SEE BLOOD, MS. CHERRY!"

TaYu comes running from her starting position for a jab square on Cherry's jaw; thinking this would give her an advantage. Cherry waits for her to come closer before she brings her foot to TaYu's throat, causing her to stumble back a bit and land on her ass. TaYu gets up, trying her regain her posture. She sends Cherry the most menacing glares she could offer before she lunges again. Her brown eyes transforming into a ferocious yellow ring with a line going horizontally from the outside of the ring to the edge of her eye; as though it resembled an owl.

'_Guess I underestimated, Ms. Whatever the fuck her name is. She'll pay for that kick__.__'_

Cherry knew she'd come back for more when she got a taste of what she was dealing with; she just didn't expect for her to recoup so soon. Before she could assess the situation, TaYu flies towards her with another jab and lands the hit right onto Cherry's left side of her jaw; feeling satisfied with the crack that filled her ears.

TaYu sees an opening when Cherry tries to set her jaw in place. She grabs a hold of her hair and throws her into the cage fences. Ms. Cherry's back hits the cage, _hard_; knocking most of the air out of her slides down and makes a thud noise when her bottom makes contact with the ground; her head hanging low, covering her, footsteps over to where she landed.

She crouches to her level on the floor, "And I thought I would get a decent fight with that surprising kick you hit me with earlier but I guess I had my hopes too high, huh, _Ms. Cherry_?" TaYu whispered in her ear, suddenly remembering her name.

Cherry grins; showing her bloody teeth with her chin still touching her chest.

"Then I guess you weren't expecting this as well," she retorts back while punching her in throat.

'_Funny how she's surprised with a hit to the throat again._' Cherry thought mischievously.

TaYu stumbles back, having hard time breathing so she grabs a hold of her throat with both of her hands. Cherry sees this as an opportunity and gives her an uppercut followed by a swift hook of her left fist. Tayu spits out blood as her head whips to the side; her hands leaving the hold she had on her throat and falling to her sides.

'_I need to end this quick before she lunges at me faster than last time__,_' she thought. '_My back is still recovering from the throw. Short stuff here has some strength__,_'Cherry reflected.

She crouches and kicks TaYu's legs from under her. When TaYu was in mid-air, Cherry stood up quickly, bringing her foot up above her head in the process and she swiftly bringing it down, making her calf come in contact with TaYu's abdomen. TaYu couldn't register what had happened; her head, arms and legs are still floating in the air when her lower back connects with the ground. Cherry notices that she's winded so she drops on top of her and straddles herself onto TaYu's waist and places TaYu's arms under her knees so she can't push or punch Cherry. This earns herself some whistles from the crowd and a few men trying to hide the bulges in their pants.

'_Childish_'. She groaned.

She starts punching TaYu furiously; the crowd urging her to disfigure TaYu's entire face. Her elbows bent and fists' clenched so tight, that her nails are scraping the insides of hands; blood urging to come out. She continues to pound her face in, until she's bleeding through every hole on her face. The ref intervenes and declares Ms. Cherry as the winner.

She jumps into the air with both arms up high and grins like an idiot, "I won! I won! I won!" Ms. Cherry climbs onto one of the caged fences and starts waving at the crowd. She's so caught up in the moment that she fails to notice a hooded figure gracing her with evil intent.

"See you soon, _my _dear cherry blossom." They mutter to themselves and briskly exits; avoiding everyone around them.

XXXX

Cherry jumps down and makes her way out of the octagon, while medics rush past her and make their way in, to help an unconscious TaYu. She collects her money off the announcer and her eyes widen.

"This is more than triple of what I get when I win," she states.

"Huh, oh some fellow came and put a lot of money down for you saying you're an amazing fighter," he says.

'_That's weird._'

"Did he leave his name?" She asked, hoping it was the same person she was thinking about.

"No, he just slammed the money down and said it was for you, if you won."

"Hmm, what did he look like?" she replied, still holding onto what was left of her hope.

"Uh no, he had a black hooded jacket on but I did see his eyes, they were brown; a contrast between tan and red." He stated, thinking back to this male figure.

'_Ah fuck, wrong person. But then again, who is this mysterious person?_'

"Thanks, anyway." She said, walking away disappointed and confused.

She looked around for the one person who supports her in all of her fights. Suddenly, her vision goes black and she could feel two rough hands over her eyes.

"Guess who it is!" The happy person said in a loud sing-a-long voice.

"Hmm, is it a VERY loud blonde who probably just finished eating ramen instead of watching my fight, considering it's the only smell that's invading my nose at the moment?" She shoots back.

The said blonde takes their hands off of her face and she turns around to see a pouting face of a male with sun kissed, tan skin, shaggy blonde spiky hair and three whisker marks on each cheek. He was wearing an orange shirt with a swirl on it, blue jeans, a grey hood under a black puffy vest and black casual shoes.

"Sak-" before the blonde could reply Ms. Cherry slaps her hand over his mouth.

"_Kyuubi_, what did I say about saying that _word_?" She says through clenched teeth while looking around to make sure no one heard him.

"Oh right, heheh, sorry _Cherry_. It just slipped out." He replies back sheepishly while scratching the back of his head.

Cherry and Kyuubi promised that they wouldn't call each other their real names while in the presence of other fighters and spectators who come to fight and watch the fights. Kyuubi being short for his full name, _Kyuubi no Youko_.Thankfully though, when they joined this underground UFC organization, called the Akatsuki, they were to sign a NDA to stop the participants and audience members from exposing this place and organization alone.

Cherry still having doubts, also made the 'big boss', as Kyuubi would like to call him, sign a NDA so that their real names were not disclosed to the public when being announced for a fight.

Though, when she presented it to him, he raised an eyebrow. Followed by saying in his deep masculine voice, "It wouldn't matter because of your hair," he replies as it's the most obvious feature on her. "It's bright and eye catching; it puts neon lights to shame. When you're out in public, someone who comes here often is bound to know who you are."

That didn't bother her though.

She discovered that there was a hair product that dyed your hair temporarily. So she would buy the black hair color on the day of her fights and dye her hair. She would leave the tips pink though; leaving the one feature that got her the nick name, _Ms. Cherry_.

The crowd was dispersing but as Cherry and Kyuubi were walking, some men stopped them to congratulate her on her 'spectacular win', which earned them a scoff.

As she was saying her thanks to the group, one guy had the nerve to get a firm squeeze on her ass. She turns around to an older man with a seductive smile on his wrinkled face.

Having no time to hesitate, she kicks him the in the balls. The person on the receiving end of the kick bends forward while clutching his sacred manhood. Muttering some words, no one could make out. Cherry delivers a sweeping round house kick to his face, knocking him unconscious on the ground while blood begins to pour out of his nose. She crouches and notices that his face is starting to swell up on the right side.

"That's going to leave a nasty mark in the morning. That's too bad, dickhead." She laughs while walking through the crowd that was in the way of the changing room's door.

The crowd makes way for her and Kyuubi, who was laughing throughout the scene, laughs harder when he notices the big eyes and gaping mouths of the group.

"Remind me not to EVER mess with her," one whispered to his friend beside him, while they both stare with at the retreating figures of Cherry and Kyuubi.

His said friend nods and says, "Same here, bro."

XXXX

"Oh, I see you've taken Konan's advice and brought yourself a more suitable attire," Kyuubi comments while looking her up and down.

"Well, yeah. The black singlet I use to wear was pissing me off, so I went and brought me some sports bras; mostly pink, red and blacks ones. I also brought some spandex's; the short ones to be exact." She says. "Can you take the strapping off please?" while she holds her arm up to him.

He moves towards her and takes the strapping off. He wraps the fabric into a cylinder shape and hands it to her.

Once he's done, she changes into black a white and grey wind runner and a pair of black and red runners. She left on her black spandex to air out her legs. Lastly, adding her ankle weights to both legs.

"Hmm, your moves looked swift out there. I mean, nothing was holding you down that was dripping with sweat," Kyuubi replies and chuckles.

"Now that you mention it, I did feel lighter." She ponders.

She places her winning money and her belongings from the locker into her sports bag and swung it over her shoulder. She winces when the bag hits her back.

"Here, let me." Kyuubi says and takes her sports bag.

Cherry smiles, '_I really should start treating him better_.' She thought as she takes a breather while leaning forward a bit and placing her right hand on her back and her left hand on her knee.

"Wow, you look like shit." Kyuubi mocks.

'_Or not._'

Cherry gives him a warning glare. He races to the car parking lot where his orange Mazda RX-8 before he could get the beating of his life.

Kyuubi places Cherry's bag into the boot and makes his way into the driver's seat. He and Cherry put their seatbelts on and he starts the car, shifting the gear into reverse and they proceed to leave the parking lot of an abandoned warehouse where the fights were being held.

"What do you want to eat? My treat," hoping this could make her forget about his comment earlier.

"If you say so, I want some McDonalds. I'm famished,"

"Sakuraaaaaaaaaaa, that's not very healthy," he whines but inwardly smiles, knowing he could always win her over with food.

"Neither is Ramen but you don't hear me judging you,"

He pouts and turns to face the road, "Oh hell no!"

"Awww, is _my Naru-bear_ hurt by comment?" She says as she starts pouting and her puppy dog eyes come into play.

He turns to look at her, "No Sakura, you know I hate it when people insult the most precious gift that Kami has ever graced us with," He says and exhales a dreamy sigh.

Sakura rolls her eyes, "Can we just get some food and not crash, Naruto?" She says while holding up her fists. She was seriously hungry and the idiot driving is drooling over Ramen.

"Shit, okay. Geez, don't need to get all angry! _Women_," He whispers the last part to himself.

"Did you say som-"

"WE'RE HERE NOW." He yells, cutting her off and going into the drive thru.

"Shut the fuck up, Naruto!" Sakura yelled back and covered her ears with her hands.

"Heheh, sorry Sakura. So, what did you want?" He asked as he rolled down his window.

XXXX

After they left McDonalds with their food, Naruto drove to Sakura's house. She ate on the way home. He pulled up into the driveway of a nice sized house. The house was very modern but still had a touch of vintage worth. It had bricked walls the consisted with different shades of brown, two big windows looking at out to the driveway, two pillars just in front of an oak door.

Naruto made his way up the driveway and went around the small water feature in the middle of the driveway; acting as a mini roundabout. She gets out the car as soon as it comes to a stop and went to the car boot to get her bag. She holds back a whimper when the bag hits back.

"Thanks for the ride Naruto," she says as she goes back to the passenger side.

"No worries Sakura, are you coming to school on Monday?" He questions.

"Yes. Why?"

"Do you need a ride?"

"Uh, no it's fine. I'm going to drive, for once," she chuckles.

"Okay then, see you on Monday. Get some rest tomorrow."

"Bye Naruto," She waves to him as he reverses out of the driveway. He honks his horn as he speeds off.

"Probably going to see his girlfriend," she mutters to herself.

When she was about to walk up the small clutter of steps, she notices moving trucks at the mansion across the road.

"New neighbors, fantastic," she mutters to herself; sarcastically.

Sakura walks up steps and is about to open the door when a petite old lady with red sleeved dress and a tan tunic over the top, opens the door for her.

"Good evening, Sakura," she greets her as she walks in.

"Thanks for looking after him Granny Chiyo," she says back. "Where is he? It's awfully quiet."

"Oh he's somewhere around here. I told him to wait until you came in but he must've ran somewhere else," Granny Chiyo replies with an eye crinkle and a smile.

Sakura sees little feet from under curtain of the bay window looking out to the side lawns.

"Hmmm, I wonder where little Aki is," she says out loud playfully.

That's when she and Granny Chiyo hear a child's giggle coming from behind the tan curtain.

She fakes a yawn and stretches; slightly grimacing from the pain in her back, "guess I'm going to bed without my cuddly teddy named Aki."

Silently, Granny Chiyo took her bag and Sakura managed to mouth a 'thank you' before a little boy with deep Maroon hair and green orbs that most likely had tints of brown mixed with it while wearing dark grey pajamas came running from the curtain.

"MOMMY'S HOME!"

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**A/N: First of all, thank you for reading my story. It's my first fanfic so please be gentle. If there's any mistakes or grammatical errors, don't be afraid to tell me; I really have a distaste for them. ****Once again, thank you and I hope you'll stick with me on this story. Please please please, review! It helps me to know you'll want more and quicker updates.**

**24/09 - Update: Just fixed some errors and added a few sentences.**

**Love y'all!**

**Kays x**


	2. First day nerves

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

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Chapter 2: Nightmares, Promises and First day nerves.

_They're arguing again._

_He's screaming again._

_He's going to hit mother again._

_He's going to hit baby brother again._

_He's going to hit me again._

_He's going to hurt __**us **__again._

_I hold onto baby brother tight; whispering comforting words. Telling him to keep quiet or the evil man will hurt us. _

_I tell him there's nothing to worry about. I tell him the evil man won't lay a finger on him. I tell him we'll get out of this hell hole. I tell my nine year old brother that I'll protect him. _

_I hear the evil man stomping to us. I hear mother telling him not to hurt us. I hear a loud slap and more screaming. I hear our door slam open. I hear the creaks of the floor boards as he leans on the door frame. _

_I don't dear to look up; I keep the place of my head buried in my little brother's hair as he tucks himself to my side. I keep reassuring my innocent little brother that everything will be okay._

"_HAHAHAHA, LOOK AT YOU PATHETIC KIDS," He laughs as he points to me. "LET HIM GO AND GET OVER HERE OR I'LL KILL HIM!"_

_My little brother holds onto me tighter, pleading for me not to leave him._

"_DID YOU NOT HEAR ME?" He continues to rant. "ARE YOUR EARS PAINTED ON? GET YOUR FUCKING ASS OVER HERE!"_

_I hold onto my little brother tighter, silently telling him I won't let the evil man touch him._

_That's when I hear his steps come closer to us in the corner of this room. The feeling of fear quickly consumes me when he yanks me away from my dear little brother. I see his tear streaked face and I almost break. But I mentally tell myself that I can't cry; I have to be strong for his sake. I have to be strong for mother's sake._

_Little brother is yelling at the evil man; pleading for him to let go of me._

_This man-no, this poor excuse of a human, throws me onto the single bed that little brother and I share; ignoring little brother's protests. He yanks my clothes off and chucks them somewhere in this small room. I'm left in my white bra and white cotton underwear. He looks down at his wrist watch and I use this time to run to my little brother._

_Before I could step a foot off the bed, he grabs a hold of my shoulders painfully and brings me back. Only this time he's straddling me and pinning my arms above my head. He slowly intertwines our hands and brings his ugly face close to mine. This evil fuck licks my bottom lip, then my jaw, then he captures my ear lobe before he whispers._

"_You're going to please me the way your mother can't."_

_At this point I begin to whimper and turn my eyes to face my little brother. He has his hands clutching his hair, shaking it side to side; chanting that this isn't real, that this is all a bad dream. _

_I wish it was little brother._

"_OI, LITTLE SHIT! LOOK AT ME!" I really want to mug his revolting face but I refrain in case he goes to little brother. "You're going to watch and if you interrupt us, I'll kill your dear older sister."_

_He snarls at the end. His threats about me don't mean shit to me but its little brother's weakness. Again, I have half the mind to beat the living shit out of him but I can't. He's at an advantage. Little brother is looking at us, he's still crying but he has stopped his sobbing._

_The evil man looks back at me and starts attacking my face. I don't even open my mouth to welcome his disgusting tongue._

"_You're going to respond to me or I __**will**__ hurt him," he's referring to little brother. I look into his eyes and I know he means it._

_He kisses me again and I hesitate to react to it but I do nonetheless. I don't want him to touch little brother with his filthy hands. I don't want him to taint my little brother with his venom._

_I hear a click sound and look up to see he's cuffed me to the head board's rails of the bed; where he got the cuffs, I have no idea. He's still straddling me when he sits upright; admiring the way I look under him._

"_My dear cherry blossom, aren't you a sight to look at," he chuckles and I tense._

_He attacks me again and removes my underwear and bra. I keep protesting against his actions but he's too strong; his weight is too heavy on top of me._

_I hear him pulling the zip down from his cheap jeans. Before I know it, he's touching me __**there**__. I let out a shriek but he quickly shuts me up by jamming his manhood into me and everything goes slow motion._

_I look to the side where little brother is trembling as his eyes are glued to mine. I keep mouthing the words 'I love you' as this monster continues his torture on me; thrusting into me harder and faster than the previous. I feel the tears begging to escape from the corners of my eyes. I let them free because the damage is already done. Though I'd rather it be I than my young, innocent, smart little brother. _

_I think back to how I got into this position. How I failed to keep my father's promise. How I failed to protect my mother. How I failed to protect my little brother from this kind of life. How I failed my duty to be the best I could be when the man of the house isn't here._

_He's pounding into me, sucking on my nipples, I keep trying to fight him off with my legs but he's enjoying my protesting, he's moaning saying that he loves it when __**they**__ fight me off. He's still thrusting into me until my world goes black and I hear a faint 'SISTER!'_

"SAKURA! SAKURA! SAKURA! SIS! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!" I hear my brother yell at me.

I wake up with a jolt and look around at my surroundings. I see my brother, standing over me, and my son, sitting at the foot my bed, looking at me with concerned eyes.

"Mommy, are you okay?" My son's tiny voice asks cautiously.

"I am baby, just a dream." I glance at my brother and I know he's still not convinced.

"Aki go get ready for preschool. I need to talk to your mom," he says.

"Okay! Mommy can you make pancakes for breakfast?" He pleads with his eyes and his hands in a begging gesture.

"Anything for you little man," I reply and ruffle his hair as I get up from my bed.

He squeals and runs to his room to get ready for school; oblivious to the tension between his uncle and I.

I turn to face my brother; even at the age of 16 he's observant and mature. I look up a little bit to him (did I mention he was taller than me? AND HE'S TWO YEARS YOUNGER THAN ME! TWO! How insulting.) And he stares down at me.

He raises his right eyebrow, questioning me about what just happened not long ago.

"It was nothing Kazuki, just a silly nightmare," I retort, turning my back to him; walking away to have a nice soothing shower.

"Uh-uh, get back here," he speaks. "It was about that night wasn't it?"

I stop in my step and slump, giving that as my answer. I hear his steps come closer to me and then I feel his arms rest around my shoulders and his forehead on the back of my neck. I hold onto his arms as he quietly speaks.

"Sis, what did we promise each other after that night? Do you remember?"

"Yeah," I whisper.

"Please don't break it. You have me and Aki; we'll protect you, just like you did for us."

"Thanks Zuki, you know I love you two so much."

"Yeah I do. Just don't think about it. You have us now, stronger than ever." He replies, reassuring me. He hugs me tighter; I turn around to him and kiss his cheek.

"Where would I be without you?" I smiled.

"There's that smile," he sighs in relief. "I'm going to get ready for school. Do you want me to take Aki to school?"

"That would be nice," I thank him and he leaves.

XXXX

I'm out of my much needed shower to start my day. I sigh; this will be my first day back to school since I gave birth to Aki, which was almost three years ago. None of my friends know why I left or where I went. They also don't know that I'm coming back today; well, except for Naruto. I'm excited to see Pig, Hinata and Tenten; I miss my girls! But I'm definitely **not **excited for all the questionings and broken heart speeches.

Although I would love to do home and online courses and look after my son myself, I have to think of him in this situation. He won't have friends like other kids, he won't have a social life like other kids, but I'm going to give him the life for a kid that I didn't get. He'll make a name for himself when the time comes and I'll be there, looking at him as a proud parent; both as a father and a mother.

With those thoughts, I make my way to my walk in closet and pick out my outfit for the day. I choose a fitting white V neck top, frayed denim hotpants and white low cut converses. Since it's quite warm out, I also choose a grey zipped hoodie and tie it around my waist.

When I'm ready, I head over to my dresser and open my mother's jewellery box. I decide to wear my lucky cross necklace that perfectly fits my neck; neither getting in the way nor chocking me, just right. I spot my son's favourite watch that I own. It has a medium sized black strap with a silver buckle and the watch itself has mickey mouse in the middle of it waving to its' owner. The hour and minute hand showing that it's 7:03; I need to hurry up.

I continue on to pack my black duffle bag. It's Monday, so it's training day, no fights and Granny Chiyo will be looking after Aki today. Kazuki will be at playing basketball with the neighbours down the road at the local park. I hope I have gym class today, I could use a good run around the track. In the duffle bag, I pack two short black spandex, two training bras, three ankle socks, a fitting grey short sleeve gym shirt, my trainers and a sweat towel. I also decide to pack my iPod, iPod arm band holder, ear phones and a spare water bottle in case the gym doesn't have water bottles out. I almost forget my ankle weights.

Once I've finished packing my bag, I tie my hair in a messy bun, leaving a few hair strands to fall from the sides and then I pop in the kitchen to see Zuki and Aki talking animatedly, in their uniforms, on the stools in front of the kitchen island.

"Chocolate chip pancakes?" I ask to get their attention.

Aki nods enthusiastically. Making me chuckle.

"Alright, don't get your uniform dirty," I lecture. "I don't want Iruka calling me saying I need to pick you up because you couldn't keep yourself clean."

"Alright mommy, I pinky swear!"

I smile and kiss his hair. I get to work with the pancakes in case this little monkey cracks a fit.

XXXX

I pull up to the school's parking lot and I see a crowd, through my black tinted square bottom sunglasses, gathering around a blacked out Lamborghini. I really don't want to get caught in a crowd on my first day so I head to the main office and make my way to Shizune, I can't believe she **still **puts up with my aunt. Her head is still in one of the many paper works she has when I closed the front door. I plant my hands on her desk and lean forward.

"You still put up with that old hag?" I question smugly, knowing she'd recognize my voice instantly.

Just as I perceived, her head darts to my face and she smiles.

"Sakura? You really are back!"

She pulls me in for a hug over the desk and I return it.

"Yeah, I'm finally back. Do you have my schedule or do I really have to see her?" We chuckle.

"No, I have everything here," she hands me my papers. "Here is your class schedule."

Once I got what I needed, I gave her one last hug before I leave the office, making a note to visit my aunt before I leave after school.

I check my class schedule to see where my roll class and who my teacher is for the year.

_Room T7 – Mr. Hatake._

Huh, he must be new. He wasn't here when I was here.

With that thought I make my way to my new class with the school map that Shizune gave me. This place is huge! It didn't look like it from when I pulled up into the parking lot of 'Leaf High'. Once I've found my class, I exhale a breath I didn't know I was holding in and walked into my new class; holding onto the strap of my bag with my right hand tighter.

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**A/N: I'm sorry that this is a short chapter. I fucked up my thumb from playing a sport during the week and I couldn't type much. Please review though! You know it helps me a lot. A big thank you to those who followed, favourite and reviewed! I wasn't expecting that many but I'm happy that you enjoy it enough to follow and favourite.**

**Love y'all,**

**Kays x**


	3. I found you

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

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Chapter 3: I found you.

_Sakura._

Immediately the smell of ramen disrupts my nostrils, so I'm guessing Naruto is in my roll class as well. Also there's a faint smell of body odour and toe jams. Who the fuck doesn't have a shower on their first day of school?

I look around at my _fellow colleagues _and I notice that the teacher isn't in yet and I also spot my old group of friends. I see Hinata sitting on Naruto's lap with his arms wrapped securely around her waist, talking energetically. Wait, rewind; Hinata is _sitting _on Naruto's _lap_ – his fucking _lap_. What happened to the shy, timid Hinata?

How could I possibly forget that pig's voice shouting at some pineapple haired dude; oh is that Shika? Ino-pig is shouting at Shikamaru next to her with his eyes closed, his hands intertwined behind his head leaning back with his legs crossed at his ankles stretched out.

There are three boys off to the side of them that I don't know. One of them had red upside down triangles on each of his cheeks, scowling at Naruto and Hinata but for what reason? I guess Mr. Triangle face has a crush on Hinata or he swings the other way and has a crush on Naruto. He also had rough brown hair, it was everywhere. It seemed as though something was living in it.

The other quiet two almost look like twins if it wasn't for the style of their hair. The one with slicked down hair was reading a book with the title '_Friendship for Dummies_' and the other one with hair like a chicken's ass was staring at me with a black face. He seems to have been the only one to notice me because the rest of the class are still talking about their holiday.

Ino finally gave up yelling at Shikamaru and turned her body around to me with a huff. She finally spots me and stands up quickly.

"FOREHEAD!" She shrieks.

Wow, what an awesome welcome back!

I grunt because now I have everyone's attention. All their eyes are on me, scanning me, judging me. Before I could reply, I'm tackled by a pair of arms and I take my glasses off, with some difficulty, and look down to see Ino hugging me, _tight_.

"Fuck, you're still heavy pig," I mock.

'_Ah fuck, my back is still sore too._'

I don't want to notify my friends of my discomfort but I try and pry her arms off of me. By this time, most of the class has gone back to talking to whoever they were talking to before.

"Shut up idiot," she retorts. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TEXT ME THAT YOU WERE COMING BACK?"

I block my ears with my hands, "could you keep it down? You're a bit loud."

"I'm a bit loud? THAT'S ALL YOU'RE GOING TO SAY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS!"

Naruto's voice was heard behind her before I could voice my _reasons_. He and Shikamaru were standing with the other three strangers.

"Ino, let the girl breathe. She has other people to see." He says, gesturing to himself and the others.

I quickly give Hinata a big hug, who was hiding behind Ino, I haven't seen in forever! Naruto tells me what's been happening with them two but I never intrude any more than he tells with their relationship. She's still soft and petite but a bump is blocking me from hugging her tighter.

Hinata… GREW MELONS, two melons to be exact. Holy shit. Puberty did her some justice, lucky girl.

"Shit Hinata. You grew!"

She covers her face and blushes. There's the shy, timid Hinata I know. I decide to tease her further.

"Can I squeeze them?" I ask as I take my palms out and slowly move my hands towards them; while still eyeing it.

She instantly goes beetroot red. I chuckle.

"Nah, I'm just kidding. You look wonderful Hinata," I glance at Naruto and he's grinning at our little interaction.

I swivel around and direct my attention to the pineapple haired idiot lazily smirking at me. I smile and drop my bag before I tackle Shikamaru into a hug; my arms around his neck. He's exactly like the older brother I never had when I was younger. He would help me with my school work and he'd give brotherly advice to Kazuki with Naruto but he'd only listen to Shikamaru; I wouldn't blame him. He and I grew up together because our parents were close; his dad working with my dad. Naruto's godfather and aunt Tsunade use to work with them as well; having the three of us growing up together in an environment without seeing our family members that much. They're the only two who know of my past and why I left school.

I smile wider and nuzzle my face in the crook of his neck and whisper '_Shika_' – my nickname for him from when we were younger. I can feel his arms wrap around me before he whispers '_Cherry_' – his nickname for me. I let go of him and he kisses my forehead, what he use to do when I cried or when I had a sore from doing the crazy things we did when we were too young to understand the dangers of doing it without caution.

"Hey! Don't flirt with my boyfriend, you just got here," I hear Ino's high pitch voice.

"Boyfriend?" I look between Ino and Shika, raising my eyebrows; with a face that was screaming '_are you fucking kidding me?_' The loud mouth pig with the lazy genius? Who would've thought?

"Yes boyfriend. Of a year, three months and 11 days," she announces proudly.

"Wow, who's counting?" I voice back, sarcastically.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru says and smirks.

"Shut your fa-" prior to her finishing her sentence. The teacher decides to show up, reading porn. I make a gagging face to Shika and Naruto knowing what he was reading is one of Naruto's godfather's books he _researched _for; that fucking perv. We're still standing near their desks talking but the teacher doesn't seem to mind. He's too occupied with reading garbage.

"Hey Sakura," Naruto calls out. "Come meet these three anti-social retards."

He points to the guy with the upside down triangles on his cheeks, "This is Kiba."

"Hey cutie, I could show you around the school if you'd like?" He winks and shows me his feral smile.

"When you clean that mop on your head and do something about your bad breath, then yeah, you can show me around," I roll my eyes. He sags in defeat.

'_The nerve of this guy._'

Naruto tries to cough back his laugh into his fist before pointing to the other guy with the slicked down hair.

"This is Sai. He's socially awkward so don't mind him if he gives you an idiotic nickname."

He stares at me up and down before placing his chin on in between his index finger and thumb.

"Hmmm," he hums. "I'm going to call you Ugly."

I could feel a huge tick mark throbbing on my forehead. I tried to get a hook on him and wipe that fake smile off his face but I don't. I felt someone's hand on my shoulder and I turn my head to look over and see it was Shika shaking his head and eyes the class. I lower my fist; I forgot I was in a class. To break the thick tension in the air, Naruto points to the chicken ass haired guy.

"And last but not least," always the dramatic eh Naruto. "This is Tem- I mean Sasuke."

He must've been staring at me the whole time because his gaze didn't waver when I looked into his dark orbs. I cock my head to the side and examine his features up close. I'm greeted with an extremely handsome boy. He had a chiseled jaw, high cheek bones, slim neck, thin lips and long straight nose. His biceps make themselves known through the navy blue long sleeved shirt he's wearing, along with his tight chest. I want to melt where I'm standing. In all honesty, he's not too bad looking, okay, well maybe he's really hot. I wouldn't say this out loud though, judging by that cocky smirk I can tell he thinks I'm like every other girl.

"Like what you see?" he taunts.

"Now that I've heard your voice; not really," I counter.

'_Who the fuck am I kidding? His voice is sex itself_.'

Something washes over his face but I couldn't name what it was. Before I could name it, it disappears faster than it had come.

"Hn." And with that he looks away.

Why do I feel guilty? I barely know this guy but something constricts within me. I try to fight it but it comes back ten times stronger. How can a simple encounter make me feel so much in a short span of time with someone I barely know? I want to cut these thoughts out because the rest of the group are looking in between us like something amazing happened. I was going to ask what's wrong but the bell sounds.

It rings at a perfect time so I pick up my bag and look at my class schedule. I have English first, History second, morning tea, Economics third, Maths fourth, roll class, lunch and P.E last. Perfect, I could start warming up at lunch. I'll probably stay a while after school to do a few laps or use the school gym.

XXXX

_Baby Daddy._

"Hello?" A person's voice boomed in into a cell phone while they sitting in a cheap single chair in an apartment in Konoha city.

"Yes," a young person's voice echoes back.

"Ah, Sai. How is cherry doing on her first day?"

"First period is starting and I have English with her. Do you request anything that I shall do?" He asks, ignoring his question.

"No, just watch her and keep tabs for me."

"Sure," he agreed. "Permission to speak freely, though?"

"Permission granted."

"What are we going to do with the Uchiha?"

"Do not worry about him. He'll stay out of the way; I'll make sure of it."

"Okay, master."

With that _master _hung up. He got off his chair and walked to the fire place adjacent to the wooden door to the kitchen. His fingers graze against a black photo frame with a portrait photo of a toddler, kicking a soccer ball.

"I will get you back my son. You and you mother can no longer hide from me."

* * *

**A/N: I'M SORRY, PLEASE DON'T BE MAD AT ME! I know this is a very very very short chapter but I'll be overseas during the weekend so I decided to release this early. Obviously it isn't finished, what I had originally was longer and this is only a fraction of it. To make up for this short chapter, there'll be a very long chapter next week so stay calm lol. Sorry for the errors as well. Please review!**

**21/10 - Update: fixed some errors.**

**Love y'all,**

**Kays x**


	4. It was my son

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

Chapter 4: It was my son.

_Sakura._

When I was afraid of fitting into my classes this morning, I had all intentions of being an outcast but now that I sit here in my English class with my sunglasses back on, bored out of my mind, dealing with Sasuke and his annoying fucking fan girls, I'd rather listen to Hidan ramble on about his religion and the god he believes in. Seriously, is this the only reason the girls from this school come; not for their education or the sole purpose for having a future ahead of themselves but for a _boy_? Are you fucking kidding me? I have never seen so many brainless female species in my life, in the _same_ room at least.

I grunt because I know no one in this class except Sasuke and the other dickhead, the one that called me Ugly. I couldn't care less to remember his name. I'm infested with the smell of tobacco and nicotine. My teacher is laid back, probably way too laid back. He's leaning back into his chair with his legs propped up onto his desk, eating chips; which is his seventh bag judging by the empty packets next to his chair. The way he continues to keep his hands busy and his slightly black gums, I figured he was a chain smoker, itching to have a smoke right now. With how bored I am at the moment and the lack of work he's giving, _teaching_, us, it's obvious he cares about his addiction more than his job.

I uphold my arms over the desk and wait until the bell rings, clearly there is no work going to be done in this period. There's a loud shriek at the back of the class and all the students turn their attention to the noise. Apparently, Sasuke did something amazingly simple as in asking a girl what the time was because he couldn't see the clock from all of the bimbo's crowding him. He says something and the crowd disperses, I was still having an inner battle about how these girls are actually giving up their time for this cocky asshole, when I see him smirk in my direction. God that smirk, it does weird things to my insides. I didn't know what to label this foreign feeling when he had first shown me that smirk and I still don't know. I don't know if it's good or bad… if it's attractive or offensive, whether it's meant for me or this red headed bitch at the back of me.

The teacher opens another bag of chips with a light 'pop' sound. That snaps me out of my trance and I look at my watch, showing me that there's 4 minutes left until next period. I continue to repeat the mantra – '_not long to go, not long to go, not long to go_' – in my head. The longer I stay around Sasuke's fan girls, the thought of my IQ dropping sounded accurate at the moment.

The bell finally rings and I'm absolutely thrilled that I get to leave this boring class and English was one of my favourite subjects. I was slinging my bag on my left shoulder when I hit someone and heard an '_oophm_'. I turn around to see the red head that was sitting behind me, with her posse of girls behind her. Every single one of them wearing branded short skirts, crop tops and heels – what? Is this the national uniform for sluts? It's only school, geez. I'm frustrated yet amused that they deem themselves attractive. It's hilarious.

"Hey! Watch it bitch. Do you know how long I had to get this outfit ready for today?" The one in the front, who I presume is the 'leader', yells out at me and stomps her foot like a spoiled child.

The class must've heard her outburst because no one has left except for the lousy teacher. I see the faces of everyone, noting that some of their expressions were surprised, fearful – by some girls, angry – by some boys, but most was indifferent. Probably enjoying the fact that there's drama to watch on the first day of school, I was just about to walk away and ignore this _friendly_ conversation but this girl and her posse just won't give up because the 'leader' steps in my way.

I blink a few times and bite back in a sweet tone. "I _really_ don't care and I _really _don't want to know."

"Do you know who you're messing with? Get with the program new girl, this is the school queen," one of the girls stated. I wanted to laugh in her face.

"Oh really," I said as I sized up the 'school queen'.

Every nerve in my body was shouting at me to wipe that cocky smile on her face as she whips her hair over shoulder and looks at her nails with her palm facing me.

"Yeah really, check yourself before you step to us," another girl replied.

I looked at her and I could definitely see that she's one of those girls who wouldn't mock anyone without her _friends_ being there. Just by glaring at her with fake intent of hurting her, she cowers behind the other girl who had spoken first. Way to back up your tough mouth, chicka.

These girls entertain me so I decided to mess with the leader. I slung the strap of my bag across my torso and untied my hoodie from my waist and stuff it in my bag, ignoring the pain shooting my back, and began.

"You've got a really nice top on. Where did you get it from?" I complimented even though I was dry reaching in my throat. The top was hideous!

She glanced down then back at me, "America." She stated simply then continued. "It's from one of the latest collections from the runway by a well-known designer, you wouldn't know her." She declared rather arrogantly.

"Then it's a shame that you've got a stain right here," I expressed with a concerned tone while I walked up to her and pointed to the spot under her chin where the collar of the top was.

"WHAT! WHERE?" She screeched and looked down, pulling the hem of her shirt out to get a better look.

"Right here," I replied haughty and flicked her nose.

I bolted out of the room and ran towards my History class. I laughed the whole way, not really caring who I ran into.

XXXX

_Sasuke._

I just witnessed the banter between Karin and the new girl and I must say she has balls talking back to Karin and her girls – Ami and Fū.

I've seen girls suck it up and face her and the other two but they've never made it out like the new girl. I've got to say, I never expected her to do _**that**_. The face on Karin when she realized what just happened was priceless. I smirked and left to my next class; History.

When I came out of the door, I saw a flash of pink running to my right, the direction of History block. Everyone could hear Karin screaming profanities and cursing a 'pink haired mutt face bitch', in her words.

I'm not going to lie, the new girl is attractive. I don't think I'd be heading down that path though. She seemed… _uncommon_. Definitely different from most. She has the most exotic combination of pink hair with emerald eyes and a fit body; contoured arms, amazing legs that never seemed to stop, slim waist and a flat stomach with a nice rack and a beautiful plum shaped ass. Perfect yet in a completely different way than I'm used to. Most would try to impress me by _what_ they wear and _how_ they look rather than _what _they do and _how _they express themselves. I stop myself there because I just sounded like a hypocrite. Well, sorta.

She's confident but something occurred in her life for her to behave this way because in some aspects she's exactly like me. I was happy and lively then my parents died and it felt like everything me and my brother had built were shot down. Our family was taken from us, at the time I would curse the world for mine and my brother's misfortune but now that I look back on it, I feel as though it was life's way of telling me that I am the way I am because I've lived through it not because it's who I am. I blame myself every day that I was the reason my parents were wrongfully ripped out of our family portrait. Just before I had turned 16, I have not seen my brother. I thought he was disgusted of me – that's why he left me to defend myself as a newly appointed adult. Though I won't complain because most things I did felt like second nature to me. She puts on a mask to show other's that she doesn't need their pity because there is none, not at first anyways. Again, exactly like me. I don't need anyone's pity – I don't need them to sympathize with me. My mask, defines who I am. It makes itself known because there isn't anything to sympathize about, they don't know my past and I don't know theirs. The way it should be. It's easier to control bottled up emotions. The only person to ever rip me out of my emo state was Naruto and to this day, I'm forever grateful for someone so opposite because he's been my best friend since and if wasn't for him I'd still be walking down the dark path.

I make it to my history class and I stop dead in my tracks. I just contemplated about my parent's death, my brother, my mask, my misery and I just compared myself to her. We're different but why do I feel like we're exactly the same? How can someone that has never looked into my eyes or know my background, make me feel, think of, so much? Make me replay the events that led me to believe that I could never be what my parents or brother wants me to be? Make me recount the memories that I locked away years ago? My brother Itachi, he was the only one, besides Naruto, who could break me and shatter the act for the mask I put on when I interact with other people. How? Her simple presence smashes all the barriers that surround me. Not even the hardest person in my life could break through. Yet she does it with such ease but the only time I spoke to her was a taunt and she replied with the same force.

I take a deep breath and walk into class just as the bell rings. I don't give a shit about the teacher eyeing me; I was still having a hard time trying to process what just happened. Maybe I'm reading too much into it? I've lost my cool to a girl, nonetheless.

When I've finally taken my seat at the back to the class, I suddenly see pink in front of me.

XXXX

_Sakura._

I pant a few breaths before I take my seat in the second row from the back of my History class. It took me longer than I had thought but I made it when the bell rung. When I shoved myself through the door, everyone stopped and looked at me for the third time today. Seriously, I'm going to attract the wrong crowd soon if I start unnecessary shit that I don't need.

Great, I'm in Sasuke's class again. He comes in dawdling like he's top shit and sits behind me, double great.

I pull out the equipment I needed for the class and my teacher, Ms. Mitarashi, began.

XXXX

Finally, it was morning tea. I could eat a horse, though that wouldn't be beneficial for my diet or workout plan. So I stop images of me eating a lot of meat. Which reminds me, I had Mc Donald's after my recent fight… I need to work that shit off and hope I make weight for my next fight.

I walk into the cafeteria and it's already packed. I look around and spot Naruto and my friends sitting on a picnic table near one of the sliding doors going out to the schools courtyard. Ino sees me and waves me over. I was walking to them when Karin and her gang cut off my path.

I sigh. "How can I help you ladies?"

"Cut the shit, you're going to pay for what you did earlier," Karin seethes. "Don't think you can get away with it."

"Oh, did you want me to point out the stains on your shirt again?" I cockily ask.

"Look, you don't know who you're messing with," she glares. "I can make your life a living hell."

I yawn and stretch even though my back is fucking _killing _me right now.

"Too bad I already live _my own _hell. Every. Damn. Day," I shoot back in a low, _too_ sweet tone while walking to her face. I lean back and walk away; leaving Karin, her group and the others who were in hearing range with twisted faces.

Plopping down onto the picnic table with Kiba to my left and Hinata to my right, I leave my phone on the table and chuck my bag underneath where my legs are.

"I fucking hate those girls," I say harshly. "Yes I know I just met them but I don't need that shit right now."

"Calm down forehead. You didn't get shit from them," Ino specifies.

"My point exactly - that's why I'm angry. They're going to be all over me now," I moan and fist my hair.

"Woah, I don't think they swing that way forehead," she gibes.

"Fuck you," I laugh. I'm happy to be back in school. I have people that can immediately change a shitty situation into a fun one.

Naruto, Hinata, Kiba and surprisingly Shikamaru and Sasuke join in on the laugh as well. Actually, more like Naruto and Kiba laughed, Hinata giggled cutely while Shikamaru and Sasuke just smirked and shook their heads at our antics.

We were finishing up our laughing when someone hugged me really tight from behind and their cheek leaning on my shoulder. I cock my head to side just a bit and I'm greeted with two chestnut coloured hair buns.

"TENTEN!" I shout and turn around quickly while still in her embrace and hug her back tightly.

I'm surprised that I didn't sense her coming up behind me. I've been enjoying myself so much, I let my guard down. That's not good.

"I heard you were here but I didn't know if it was true or not," she started before the onslaught came. "Where the fuck have you been? Do you know how hard I was trying to track you down?" She finished with a huff.

"Not hard enough apparently," I muttered to myself.

She punched my arm, rather _hard_. "Shut it, you! I was so worried that you were killed or some ridiculous shit like that."

"Ow. Okay first, that fucking hurt. Still got that strength from way back, maybe we could spar sometime? Second, as you can see, I did not get 'killed or some ridiculous shit like that', as you put it. I was just… staying with a family member in Suna for a while." I coax.

At first, she didn't appear to believe me however she breathed out a sigh of relief. "I was just worried, is all? We all were actually. The girls and I were just more expressive," she chuckled.

I was just about to say a snarky reply but my ringtone went off alerting me that there was an incoming call through. I slide the bar at the bottom of the screen and answer it quickly. The voice of Aki rings into my ear.

"Hi mommy," Aki said happily.

"Hi baby, what are you doing ringing me on Zuki's phone?" I question as I walk away to have distance from the group's preying ears and Tenten sits next to Neji and holds his hand in her lap. I narrow my eyes, mentally noting that I'll be asking her about that later.

"Zuki picked me up to get ramen!"

"What the heck," I say exasperatedly, carefully trying not to cuss and shoot Naruto a glare who knew what I was glaring at him about. "Baby, can you put Zuki on the phone please?"

"Ok mommy!"

There's shuffling then my brother's voice greeted me.

"Zuki, why isn't he at school?"

"Uhh, ummm, onourwaytoschoolheblackmailedmetotakehimtogetramenformorningtea," he responded so fast that I had to replay it in my head before I could comprehend what he had said.

"What did he blackmail you about?" I inquire curiously.

"Nothing," the reply was instantaneous.

"Oh, really?" I quirk an eyebrow.

"Yes really. I'll have him at school on time, don't worry sis."

"Fine but this isn't over. Put him back on the phone." I scowl.

"Yes mommy?" Aki greets me so adorably.

"Baby, don't eat too much ramen please? And do not dirty your uniform. Remember what I said this morning?"

"Uh-huh mommy." His cute voice replies.

"Alright, I'll let this one slide because it's your first day back," I say as I walk back to the table. "I love you baby. See you tonight." With that, I end the call.

"_Baby?_ Who was that?" Tenten asks, a glint of curiosity in all of their eyes.

I glance at Naruto and he bows his head a little, gesturing to me that it's my decision. I look at Shikamaru and he shrugs one of his shoulders, saying the same thing as Naruto.

"Are you going to tell us what you three are communicating about in your language?" Ino looks between me, Shika and Naruto. This brings me back to reality.

"Uh well…" I hesitate.

"Well," Ino, Tenten and surprisingly, Hinata say all at once.

I groan in defeat. "It was my son."

XXXX

_Baby Daddy._

After Sai rang and told me that cherry was doing good – I got hungry and the two minute noodles in the cupboard of the apartment wasn't going to satisfy the growl coming from stomach. I decided to head to Ichiraku's from brunch so I put on a beanie, hoodie and loose track pants and lock the door.

Not many people are at Ichiraku's when I arrive but I still grab a free newspaper from the front and find a booth and a waiter serves me when I get seated. She takes my menu and hands my order in. She comes back with an empty cup and a jug of iced water. I poured myself a drink and take a sip when the same waiter that served me, served familiar names from the booth behind me.

"Hey Aki, what's it this time?"

"Uhhhhhh, I'll have a medium, half chicken, and half beef with the thick noodles please."

That voice. The voice of my son. I want to take him right then and there but I don't. Not yet anyway. I'm going to get him but when he's with his mother, I want them both. I want _all_ of them. To make cherry love me like she used to, make her trust me like she used to. I was so stupid to leave her when _he _told me too. I can't believe all the shit he told me wasn't true, I left her to defend herself when I told her I'd be there for her through thick and thin. I'm glad my grandmother was still there to take care of them though.

I let those thoughts drift away as a steaming hot bowl of ramen with extra broth is placed in front of me. I thank the waiter and begin eating. While I'm eating I take a read at the newspaper and one of the headlines almost make me spit all of the ramen noodles out. '_Uchiha Death Case Files Stolen. Police Are Currently Investigating_.'

I know three men who would be interested in them and they're all supposedly dead. All three of them have a past with cherry but only two of them have had direct contact with her. I killed one of them, so why do I have this hunch that I didn't finish the job?

I need more on this so I call an old friend. "Deidara. I need your help."

XXXX

_Sakura._

Economics is boring.

My teacher is talking so much that it disturbs me how he keeps glancing my way every 5 seconds. I might be reading too much into it but I'm sitting in the back row… with no one behind me. Every now and then he'd mention some kid named Konohamaru that he babysits in the weekdays, not that the class cares anyways. He wears a blue bandana on his head the same way as Ibiki, the guy that umpires some of my fights. One of the rules in school states that you're not allowed to wear bandanas of any colour so why is the teacher allowed? He also wears these big black bug eyed looking glasses. They're so dark. You can't see his eyes, even when the sun beam hits it.

This is going to be a very long 20 minutes for the last part of this class.

XXXX

The teacher is fucking funny. I could laugh at his dry jokes 24/7 because his humour is hard to find in stuck up teenagers.

I literally have tears in my eyes. I've been dreading this subject all day because I absolutely hate it and it's my worst subject. What surprised me though is that Sasuke is in all of my classes with the bitch queen and her crew. Fuck my life.

But I appreciate that Genma, who hates being called Mr. Shiranui, is here to take my mind off them. I don't know why I want to stay away from Sasuke but there's something pulling me back to him and he looks so familiar. Something about him is so identical to me but what? I glance at him to my right, near the back of class. His face is stoic as ever, not even a wrinkle is seen.

I leave those thoughts be and continue to laugh and get some work in… hopefully.

XXXX

Roll class just finished and Kakashi, who I found out, hates being called Mr. Hatake, didn't show up at all. I could've gone and had a smoke but I stopped that shit when I found out I was pregnant. It also doesn't help that Mr. Sarutobi was reeking of it this morning. I just contradicted myself.

I'm so fucking hungry, again but this time I choose the option of a green salad with marinated chicken, bought from the cafeteria. It was surprisingly good, _especially_ coming from a school cafeteria. I ate then decided to leave to warm up and stretch. A run around the track sounds good too.

XXXX

I arrived to the changing rooms and got changed right away. I took off my white top and denim shorts, leaving me in my black spaghetti strapped sports bra and black sports underwear and put on my grey gym fitted shirt and long black compression skins that stopped just before my ankles and white ankle socks that stopped midway from my Achilles and then tied the laces to my runners.

I bought out my iPod, the arm strap holder and earphones. I decided to leave the ankle weights for now. The walk from the cafeteria to gym was longer that I had initially thought but that's okay, it gave me time to digest the marinated chicken I had. It sounds stupid however I was feeling self-conscious about how good it tasted that I had a second (_larger_) portion.

I locked my things in one of the lockers and set my combination. I went to the track and wasn't surprised to see a group of girls squealing where most of the guys were, which also doesn't surprise me that they were playing basketball on the court near the tracks and field. I scoffed and walked to where the rails were and tied my hair into a high messy bun. I put my earphones in and let the fast beat song playing take me through my stretches.

XXXX

_Sasuke._

Playing basketball with these knobs is actually thrilling yet depressing. The boys we're playing against are the 'other' popular boys; Suigetsu, Jugo and some other fucking idiots, who were stating that they were the '_best motherfuckers playing basketball in school_.' I don't have many fucks to give right now because a female figure bending over stretching gave me and the boys, who stopped to look at her as well, an amazing view of her ass.

Just when she got up, I saw pink hair. _Oh fuck_. There's no way that's Sakura. _Oh fuck 2x_, I just said her name instead of 'the new girl'. She must really be into her fitness because she's starting her stretches the proper way. She starts from the bottom of her feet working her way up. I'd like to work my way down on that body, the way she rolls her ankles – giving her plum shaped ass a nice lift – to the way she flexes her carve muscles then her groins, then her abdominals – fucking sexy. She starts extending her arms above her head, giving the spectators a nice view of her tight, flat stomach. I immediately stop those thoughts from escalating because my shorts are starting to get tight and from what I remember, they were _loose_ basketball shorts. Fuck me. One by one the boys start taking off their shirts and fan themselves. This of course earns themselves high pitched squeals and many shouts of dating, babies and marriage. Tch, pathetic.

I cross my arms and observe her when she glances at her wrist watch then starts running around the track; heading straight towards us. Now that she's closer I realise that she has her glasses back on and she's listening to her iPod. Woah, serious pants. I also notice she has long strides that fit her long legs well and her posture is perfect; straight back, elbows bent, wrist never going below her hips – only her wrist brushing against it and the arches of her foot are always straight never bent inwards or outwards. When I finished my analysis, I concluded that I just became a master at 'how to run' from watching her. When the fuck did I learn all that shit? Oh right, Itachi. He was crazy about his fitness and eating healthy. He always tried to get me to eat other fruits and vegetables besides tomatoes. He also tried to put me on a workout and diet plan. I did give in however. I still continue my workout to this day but I (still) only eat tomatoes with anything.

She finally ran around the curve part of the track at the boys start whistling and lifting their arms and placing it above their heads while gripping onto the fence; the only boundary separates the court from the track and field. What she does next simply makes all of the boys have a hard on because I've certainly got one.

XXXX

_Sakura._

While I was running closer to the courts and the cheerleaders, I noticed Queen Bitch – her new nickname – glaring the sharpest daggers at me. I'm internally holding up a shield but then I notice why she was. It's because I have the attention of the boys, they're all sweaty and shirtless (Naruto who has the ball under his foot, was the only sane man with his shirt still on). Oh my fucking goodness, I would've climaxed right then and there but I don't so I decided to start chaos. Welcome to my world bitch.

I stop running in front of the boys and bend down, pretending to tie my loose shoe lace. I stick my ass high in the air and when I get back up, I stretch my arms above my head again, letting my shirt to ride up just enough for them to want more. I stop and look to my right and pretend to act shock that they saw me. In reality, I was happy that they didn't seem to react at my _mortified_ face because they weren't even blinking just licking their lips. I see four boys at the back, one of them being Sasuke and another being Naruto. I stare at Sasuke for a bit then I give him a sultry smirk. I know that's going to get me into some more shit but looking over to the "cheerleaders", it was definitely worth it. Just watching how Queen Bitch is trying to escape the hold that her posse had on her was satisfying enough, my inner wanted to flip her off. Mission accomplished.

I continue to run knowing I'll at least have 15 minutes left of running before last period starts.

XXXX

I should've wished for those last 15 minutes of my run to go by as slow as possible because my teacher is literally the most… distasteful looking man on earth. What makes it even worst is that he a miniature version of him and he's my age. For fuck sakes. He has the exact same bushy eyebrows, same _tight_ green jumpsuit, same orange leg warmers and the exact same bowl haircut. This… cannot be unseen. I think I'm scarred for life.

These are one of the time's I curse my pink hair and my fitting name because now the miniature version of my gym teacher is sitting next to me, shouting about his eternal youthful love for me. The fuck? I don't believe in love at first sight but now that this knob is preaching his shit about the topic, I really wish I could walk out of his life to get away from him. I have never met someone so… passionate about everything being so 'youthful'. I grab his wrist when he tries to touch my 'silky youthful hair' and his eyes widen.

"You have such fast reflexes my flower petal," he exclaims so proudly.

"When the fuck did I become _your_ flower petal? Who even calls someone else that?" I grunt, hearing some of the guys in my class agree in the background.

"Such an unyouthful mouth you have, my flower petal. We must do something about that," he boosts. "If I cannot help you with your problem then I will do 150 laps around the track, if I cannot accomplish that then I will do 300 pull ups, if I cannot do that either then I will do 600 push ups with one finger," he shouted so loud that I punched him when I was convinced that my ear drums had blown up.

"Don't ever fucking shout again and I don't have a fucking problem," I breathed still trying to test my ears if they're working.

"I have failed! You have used such unyouthful words, my flower petal." He cried anime tears while clutching his hair.

Evidently, no one noticed this until I had punched him. Now for the fifth time today, I have gotten everyone's attention for the wrong reasons. The way he's kneeling on the ground looks as though he's begging for something until he knocks me over a bit and snatches my legs into a very strong embrace. His hold on me causes the blood circulation to my legs to become blocked and I can only imagine how ghostly pale they look. I try to shove him off but to no avail, it's not until the fucking teacher comes and pries his 'son' off of me. My step falters a bit then I feel an arm behind my back and hold onto my right arm pulling me against their body. I instantly whimper because the pressure generates pain into my back, up until then, I had forgotten about the pain from the fight. I hope there's no bruise. Opening my eyes I am met by deep midnight coloured eyes, if I had known better I would've jumped out of their grasp but I'm entranced by how deep yet light looking their eyes are at the moment. We're so close that I can feel my breath bounce off their cheek and return back to me. Someone clears their throat and that steals our attention.

"Now, if you've finished your eye sex… Sasuke, Sakura. We'd like to carry on with our lesson," Naruto's voice rings out and he coughs awkwardly into his closed hand.

The fact that Naruto was the one that brought me back to earth wasn't my problem, no; it was the person he mentioned. _Sasuke_, the same person who still had an arm around me – only this time it dropped a few centimetres lower, which is now around my waist.

Jumping away from his arm, I scrap off the non-existent dust particles on my t-shirt. Fully aware that most of the boys were watching the way my breasts' bounce each time I wipe my shirt.

'_Really?_' I grumble mentally.

The girls save me by dragging me into their team. I wasn't listening to the teacher so I was grateful they were there for me.

"Spill," Ino demands.

"Thanks for saving me girls," ignoring Ino and looking towards Tenten and Hinata.

"Sakura, do not ignore me. You know how grumpy I get."

"Definitely; you turn into she-hulk. Attention seeker," I murmur.

"I HEARD THAT FOREHEAD!"

Again we have the attracted the attention of the class. I'm thankful that Queen Bitch and none of her posse are in the same gym class as me. I don't know if I can deal with see her caked face for another second.

"You were suppose too,"

"Fine, we'll get it out of you eventually. I agree with Naruto however. You and Sasuke just completely had _eye sex _in front of the whole class," she squeals. I rub my temples, how did I become her friend again?

"Can we leave it please and just start serving the volley ball to each other," I mumble, clearly done with the topic.

"God you're annoying!" she shouts out loud while throwing the ball at me, trying to aim for my face – keyword: trying. Damn that girl has a poor arm on her.

XXXX

Fuck, when I told the gang that I had a son I was definitely nervous and anxious at how it was going to go but since Ino, Tenten and Hinata are really social and seem to be getting along well with Aki. Zuki is standing with the boys, reminiscing with Naruto and Shikamaru while getting to know Kiba, Sai and Neji. Sasuke left before we came, saying he something came up. This is bullshit because it was an obvious lie. Naruto, Shikamaru, Neji and Zuki were the only ones who noticed it besides me. Underneath his right eye, it twitched a little when he said he had to go and when he explained his reason why, he kept his left hand busy with his key chain. As if he was conducting a story in his head and the movement of his left hand was like a mental notary of it.

Neither the boys nor I call him out on it so we let him go. I don't know what had gotten into him though? He was fine before Aki and Zuki arrived but there wouldn't be a reasonable excuse for why Aki and Zuki's presence was enough for him to go. I just visualized a long intent as to why he left and spaced out, sneaking a glance at the boys, I am blessed with a questioning eyebrow raise from Zuki and Naruto while I got an intense stare from Shika and Neji so I decide to give a brief look to Ino, Tenten, Hinata and Aki as they sit on the other table of Aki's ice cream parlour.

As I'm watching Aki talk animatedly about this his favourite ice cream flavour with the girls, I have a flashback from earlier on in the day; when I had announced I was a mother.

_-Flashback-_

"It was my son."

Tenten has a death grip on Neji's hand but he doesn't seem to mind because he seems as if he's got a death grip on hers as well. Ino is just staring at me with her mouth parted a bit but I feel sorry for Shika because Ino _literally _knocked him out. She must've given him a silent sucker punch and now he's knocked out on the table. First time ever that he's not sleeping on his _own_ account, this shit is comical. Naruto and Hinata are just chuckling at everyone else's reactions because they already knew. Sai seems indifferent but has this creepy as fuck "smile" on his pale face, what is he smiling about? He just met me – isn't he going to judge me? Kiba has the most expressive response; his eyes are wide as saucers, his mouth is open so far apart that you can fit a mountain in there. The one that surprises me the most is Sasuke, with his usual stoic face I could read a few expressions with just the crease of his eyebrows and the shifting movement of his nostrils. I saw surprise, disbelief, curiosity, cautious and confusion. I thought I had seen anger but the downfall of the left side of his lips made me rethink that into confusion.

It scares me that I could read all of that about a new face. Whenever I met someone new from the Akatsuki base, I would be useless at reading them yet this average – _good looking – _man in front of me lets me read him like an open book on a specific page.

"Who's the father?" Ino's question breaks the ice and it devastates me that he is not here by my side. His simple existence would not have Ino asking a question that would seem so obvious.

I don't answer right away but Tenten's question snaps my head her way. "It's Sasori, isn't it?"

I tilt my head and stutter, "h-how'd you know?"

"You were dating before you left," she started. "And when you did leave, we hardly ever saw him too. We tried so hard to force some information of your whereabouts out of him but he would never budge. Then one day, he just… left too. He didn't even graduate, he left a few months after you did. We were curious as to why he left as well but now we know why," she stops to peek to the rest of the group and grabs Ino's hand, who was sitting next to her. "Because you were pregnant."

I blink the tears threatening to escape. I don't want to cry after being "courageous" during the day. Nah, fuck that. These are my friends, so I cry anyways and let the girls comfort me. Why did I leave them in the dark about this? When I bring my head up to look at them with my tear streaked face.

"I'm sorry," I whisper.

"Shut up please. Do not apologize, we're here aren't we?" Tenten speaks as she looks at the group.

"I agree, you had your reasons for your leaving and though I don't understand why you didn't tell us but again, you had your reasons," Ino manages to say.

I don't reply, I just smile and grab all three of the girls into a ginormous hug that speaks all that I have to say. I eventually let go and let Hinata quietly ask one of the questions that I've been dreading if this topic of choice was to come up with them.

"So when are we going to meet him?"

_-Flashback end-_

Which brings us to now, I'm happy that they didn't shun him or Zuki. I don't know why I was worried about it because now I have a family that can help me through this life that I live.

* * *

**A/N: HEEEEY! I'm back. Sorry for being M.I.A for a while, I've been training for a sports event coming up and I do seasonal sport modules so it'll be hard. Updates will be irregular from now on but I WILL UPDATE! I refuse to leave you guys hanging for a few weeks/months or not update at all. Also, the baby daddy has been revealed! Who honestly saw that coming? Lol. Thanks for the reviews, follows and favourites though! It's definitely much appreciated.**

**Love y'all,**

**Kays x**


	5. This pinching feeling

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

Chapter 5: This pinching feeling.

_Sasuke._

How did she do it?

I don't know how many times I've repeated myself or this sentence for that matter but how does she do it with just _existing_? Just breathing and simply _living_? She's like, no she _is_ my personal nirvana for the darkness that plaques my life. Even though I have no right to say that because I don't deserve it, I cannot stress how much light she coats me with. I feel as though this opening at this point of my life makes me feel so many emotions that my chest tightens thinking about it while my heart begs for air that she provides. The way her persona changed when her son and younger brother had made their appearance, surprised me greatly. Undoubtedly, I did feel the sense of longing and dread for I have not felt or looked, the way her younger brother did, when he was in the same space of air as her. His loving, caring and protective face was what I had shown once and then they made it worst for me, it my reason for my departure.

That simple gesture she did to her son, made my heart ache even further. Itachi used to do it to me when we were younger. He wasn't the type to openly show his affection so he'd poke me with his index and middle finger just above my glabella. A wave of nostalgia rippled through my body at that moment of time when I had witness the interaction, but in the exact same moment, envy and anger had risen within me. I could not take the cheerful faces around me so I made up a stupid excuse and left.

Later that day when I got home, I changed into all black clothing and went to a random flower store on my way to the cemetery.

"Hey, mom and dad. How's it up there?" I say to the headstones of my parents. I lay down the new bunch of flowers I had bought and return my hands into my pants pockets. My parents were buried together, exactly how they lived their life; together. I remember their funeral clearly. At the time, I was in so deep in denial that I left early to run into our family home and make sure that it was some sick prank. But, it wasn't. It definitely wasn't. When I stepped foot into our family room, I was reminded by the fact that it was all real. The blood, so much blood; it was everywhere. On the walls, on the couch, on the floor – that was newly polished that morning, on our family photos and on Itachi's and my academic and sport achievements. It was a painful reminder that it was all real and that I had lost my parents.

Before my parents were killed, my father and I had an argument about something stupid, I can't recall what it was about and I don't process more on it because it was just that, stupid. It sounds childish but there isn't a word that describes the argument. I was blinded by so many things that I hadn't speared a second thought at the way I was disrespecting my father by the way I was acting and things I was saying. I close my eyes and let out a shaky breath.

"I hope you're looking out for Itachi, wherever he is, please insure that he's in good health and makes the right decisions. I know it sounds foreign rolling off my tongue but after all that has happened, that connection we have is still alive within you two." I continued. I cannot help but sob at the irony. The bond my brother and I have is _alive_ in our two _dead_ parents. I wish I knew where he was, it would put my mind at ease. At least I know that he's still alive though, I can tell by the other bunch of flowers standing up right in front of the headstone, some of its petals are beginning to peel off, meaning he was here not long ago. Sometimes when I make the drive out here, some part me hopes Itachi is there but at my arrival, there's no one there but the sound of the weeping wind, seemingly knowing my situation.

"There's this new girl at school. She was apparently there before we had moved. She reminds me of you, mom. I don't know if you'd appreciate being compared to a pink haired, green eyed girl but that's who she reminds me of. She's a tragic beauty with an attitude to go with it. Exactly like you," I pause to sigh. "I honestly crave the company of yours at times like these, mom. You'd tell me these emotions I have towards her because I don't want to admit it to myself. At least not yet anyways. I'd only accept them if the words were coming out of your mouth. You'd always know what to say about these types of situations because it would remind you of yours and dads story."

I reminisce to the times when Itachi would always ask mom about how her and dad had met. It always intrigued me how much they went through for each other yet they would always come out victorious; together.

"Dad, my continuous apologies will never make up for the way I left you and for that, I hope you're looking down at me right now and understand that I love you more than you know. I wasn't the best son nor was I a good listener but I hope you and mom continue to bless me with amazing friends and right decisions. I love you both. I'll come be back for another visit. Bye mom, dad." I kiss their grave and leave the cemetery.

XXXX

It's been a three weeks since that day – almost a month – and I've tried my hardest to avoid Sakura. I have no reason to call her the "new girl" anymore because she's become quite popular with the school crowd. It's surprisingly easy since she's kept to herself, I don't know what happened but Naruto said that she's been acting odd and unlike herself. I hear the group trying to get her to tell them what's wrong but she stares at them then leaves without a single utter. She hasn't been retorting to any of Karin's snarky comments either. Everyone can tell that she wants to fuck her up so bad but she doesn't. She holds her tongue and continues her work.

"Hey asshole, I'm coming over to yours after school," Naruto yells at me, even though he's just across the table. I mentally thank him for breaking my thread of thoughts though.

"Hn."

"For a smart arse, you sure do have a small vocabulary," he taunts while grinning like an idiot.

"Naruto, stop," his wise girlfriend stops him from saying another idiotic comment while stopping me from replying in the process.

The bell rings, alerting us that we have lunch, roll class and three periods left for the day. The day is going slow as fuck.

XXXX

Gym just finished and I can say that I had a good run with the boys today. I also enjoyed watching Sakura's ass bounce when she was running. I need to stop that because knowing if I get caught, there's going to be many rumours and I don't want to deal with the bullshit that comes with it, I don't think I have anything fucks to give at this point. I especially do not want to deal with Karin. She's fucking annoying, seriously. I think I'm losing my insanity whenever she's close.

I was going to my car when Naruto came crashing into me, the idiot.

"I'm coming with you smart arse."

"Hn." I shrug him off and pull my shirt down a bit then pulled my bag strap closer to my neck.

"How does Sakura even put up with your 'hn's'?" He asked a question that caught me off guard.

"Sakura? What does she have to with this?"

"Wow, we're this playing this game now?"

"What are you talking about? I didn't say anything about Sakura."

"You don't have too," he states, staring at me.

"Again, what are you talking about?"

"Like I said, you don't have to say anything," he states again. "I see the way you look at her and the way she looks at you. It's easy to see and if I'm not the brightest in the group, like everyone says I am, then I'm definitely not the only one who can see it."

Woah, what the fuck? He actually… made sense for once. I'm not admitting it though, well, not yet anyways.

I don't reply instead I start the car and rev the engine, while not missing the sly grin on his whiskered face.

XXXX

"Dobe, what did you mean by "the way she looks at you"?" I questioned, referring to our earlier conversation. We've been chilling at my house for a while and that sentence has been haunting me, I'm not going to lie; to hell with admitting to it later on.

"Isn't it obvious, teme?" He casually asks. "You two have been trying so hard to avoid each other that you don't even know that it's only bringing you closer." He must've seen my confused my face, how, I don't know, it's Naruto, so he elaborates more. "The way you look at her, it's as if you're going to take her right then and there, am I right?" I nod. "That was a trick question; I just got you to physically reply about your feelings towards her." He raises an eyebrow and crosses his arms of his chest.

Fuck me, he did too. I sigh, no point in denying it now.

"Hn. Better not mention this to anyone, especially Sakura."

"It's not my business. Well, not yet anyways." He gives me a stupid smirk then glances at his phone then saying Hinata is coming to pick him up.

In truth, I've been swimming in denial for a long time about a lot of things including my feelings for Sakura. The only difference is that I openly admit to it, well, to myself more like it but it's a start. I really hope this pinching feeling isn't a bad one.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, there will be another one coming out shortly so don't fret :P w****ow, now you know there's feelings bubbling between the two but the real questions is, who's going to act on it first? **

**I don't know if you guys and gals know this but... NARUHINA &amp; SASUSAKU ARE CANON EVERYONE! WE MADE IT! WE FUCKING MADE IT!**

**Also, Happy Birthday to Masashi-sensei :)**

**Love y'all,**

**Kays x**


	6. Autumn Leaves

Chapter 6: Autumn leaves.

_Sakura._

So much has happened now that I think about it. So with a battle about pros and cons of doing what I was about to do, I had finally decided that I needed to go see my dad. I haven't had a glimpse of his marble headstone since I moved into my own home. It feels longer than that though. On my way there, I couldn't help but label this nagging feeling as guilt or acceptance; guilt because I haven't visited him or acceptance because I've come at peace with my decisions. Growing up, my father always taught me to be independent; on myself and others, even if I don't want others to know of my problems or struggles. Neither my pride nor my façade could keep up the act. I force myself out the dark abyss that I was striving towards with those thoughts in mind.

I finally made it cemetery and I was surprised to be greeted with Sasuke and his grim yet stoic face, talking intensely but quietly to the black headstone in front of him. He was at least 6 rows behind the place where my father had been laid to rest. I pulled my hood up further on top of my head and turned my back to him.

"Dad," I had only got a single word out and everything came crashing down on me. It started with a few lonely tears then a group bunched up in the corner of my eyes then a full on cry with the whole works, it lasted until my body couldn't produce anymore tears. I let my fingers brush against my father's photo on his headstone; it was only taken three days before his life was captured in the hands of a murderer. It was of him sitting on the concrete slab outside of our family home with his forearms resting on top of his knees that had his legs bent and feet planted on the road. He had a mega-watt smile, which had always made my mother gaze at him with such love filled eyes, and with his usual but quirky hair do.

To this day, I have mentally forgiven my father's murderer but I have yet to physically forgive this unidentified person. It's hard to battle your inner strength and beliefs that the perpetrator was merciless but it can't helped when the only reason I have forgiven the said person is because it was time to move on with my life and not dwell on the fact my father is gone. I had forgiven them because I was exhausted with the nightmares, with the paranoia, with the hunger to survive in my mental state and **not** because they deserved any of my remorse. When the day comes where I have to face my father's killer then I'll decide what I'd do. Right now, with everything that's happened since his death, I cannot concur whether or not if I'd even have the courage to face the person who had taken the sunshine out of my life. Aki and Zuki are the only two reasons that I'm here standing in front of a headstone with 'HARUNO' on the bottom of the headstone, carved onto the slab, instead of lying, cold, with my dad.

"I miss you. It's been a while since I've visited. I'm sorry I didn't bring any of your favourite German chocolate. I had a rough day; a talk with you was needed. I still feel broken since the last time, I wish you were here." I smile a sad smile. "I've been jamming your guitar recently. It's so therapeutic and relaxing. It takes me to my own world but I always pictured you strumming the strings and humming a soft melody instead of me being alone.

Nostalgia runs through me as I close my eyes. I hear the leaves rustling, somehow letting me feel safe and alerting me that my dad is here with me. It sounds so cliché but I love the fact that he has a connection with nature whether it is physiologically or spiritually.

_If you leave this time I feel that you'll be gone for good__  
__So I hold on like leaves and fall to what is left__  
__Said her father left her young and__  
__He said he'll be back with that same song__  
__You just said you'll stay forever with_

_It seems that all the autumn leaves are falling__  
__I feel like you're the only reason for it__  
__All the things you do, all the things you do__  
__All the things you do, all the things you do__  
__All the things you do, all the things you do__  
__It's safe to say you're the only reason for it_

_I've been bleeding in your silence__  
__I feel safer in your violence__  
__I hold on like leaves and fall to what is left__  
__Before I sleep I talk to god__  
__He must be mad with me, it's coming__  
__I'm confused who I'll spend my forever with_

The slightly melancholic lyrics yet with its' calm and smooth flow of the song expresses how I feel at the moment. I've been this way for a while, since I decided to go back to school. I sing the lyrics softly to him and let him read in between the lines of the lyrics. I've been singing this song repeatedly. I didn't bring Aki or Zuki with me today. It was something I needed to do alone and I had something I needed to talk to him quietly about, well, more like vent.

My father and I were the only ones who could sing in our family. Though, Zuki play the guitar just like him. Dad was a self-taught guitar player, at one point he taught me and Zuki but I stuck to singing and Zuki took the lead with the guitar. Sometimes when Zuki and I were younger, we'd have little jam sessions, where Zuki would be playing the guitar, or trying too, and dad and I singing goofy songs that came to mind. Mother would be yelling from the kitchen, telling us not break anything or she'd break the guitar. At that point we'd become louder because we all knew that was an empty threat. Shes later come in and dance with dad as he sings and Zuki and I would huddle next to each other and look at them with our cheesy smiles. After every dance, he'd twirl her, dip her back gently while clutching her hand in the air to keep her stable with an arm behind her and say, "I'm glad to have met an amazing, strong, and beautiful woman under the Autumn leaves." then finish it off with a passionate kiss.

When dad was alive, he'd be my walking journal. I'd tell everything that happened during that point in time and he'd just listen but sometimes he'd have this face on that I named his 'recording' face. It's when he scrunches the right side of his eye which causes his eyebrow to slope a bit and almost appear as if he was smirking. He'd only do it to the most important details that he thinks would help me later on if he reminded me about it. I didn't know how much of a hypocrite I was until he would mention them.

The other time's he would be my consultant. Many kids would mock my forehead when I was younger, it was the ugliest feature of me that I wanted to get rid of but he taught me that every part of me was beautiful and that everyone out there has flaws but it comes in different shapes, forms, or sizes. From that day fourth I had begun to ignore the name calling, the papers being thrown towards me, the glares from when I was down, it didn't mean a thing to me anymore. Eventually, the bullies dispersed and I had unimaginable confidence in me.

I hum a soft melody and let my fingertips linger on his photo. I smile softly and the image of my father humming with me. I say a silent prayer and leave towards my car. I have a son and brother that I need to hug and be thankful for.

XXXX

Three weeks has flown by fast because it's almost my birthday. I'm thankful that the group hasn't said anything or reminded each other, if they knew, they'd through a party. Although that would be fun, I can't really party anymore. Not with my fights on the weekends.

Through the past three weeks, I've won six fights and drew one. Well, I won five and won another by default. The girl I was supposed to fight was fresh meat and she was the Sound base, meaning her leader was Orochimaru. When she came out from the back, she was slightly frightened by the crowd full of men. As soon as she stepped in the ring, she fainted. The pressure for her to fight and survive must've taken a toll on her. Orochimaru knows not send in new fighters because of situations like this. He'd blame the fighter for not being prepared mind set so he'd kill them. Poor girl didn't know what hit her; a quick beheading took the girl out of her misery. Her lifeless body was taken out to the dump behind the building near the docks then burnt, leaving her dark ashes mix with the damp grounds of the docks. Her head was taken by Orochimaru. He takes the head of the deceased and hooks it onto his wall in his base. "It's a souvenir to remind me of their disappointment and their eyes… their eyes show the fear before it all ended. If in anything, I helped them." He said so proudly. I could never understand that kind of insanity but I'm not one to cross into that lane.

Karin and her posse have been annoying the heck out of me, fucking hell. Her snarky comments are being ignored but that doesn't seem to stop her. She just doesn't get the point. I could care less about what she says about me, I'm just grateful that she doesn't know about my son yet and I plan to keep it that way.

I've been bringing Aki and Zuki to my training's recently. They don't know I fight in an illegal underground ring, they think I train myself because it's a way to vent my frustrations and that's great. I'll tell them when I'm ready or well, when they're ready. I don't them to lose the trust they have for me. My two weaknesses are the two very people who sit there chatting about Aki's day at school while I beat the shit out of the small punching bag dangling from the wooden plank. I'm using the school gym today because I had to stay back a bit and talk with my history teacher.

My training has become even harder and faster. My trainer, Ibiki, has taken me to my limits; some limits I didn't know I could reach.

"Two more sets of ten then come over to the pad area to me, take your shoes off too." He said while he put on his punching pads.

Finishing up the two sets I walked over to him and took off my trainers and socks.

"Okay, today we're working on your defense." I nodded.

"What do you think you lack in your defense area?" He questioned, starting off slowly.

This I what I love about Ibiki, he trains you for you. He doesn't do it because he's ordered too, he does it because he wants to see you reach your personal goal and for you to fight your fight.

"Probably my arms, they distract me." I replied.

He raised an eyebrow, confused about my answer. "Care to elaborate?"

"I mean, I forgot to keep them up. As you know, I fight more with my legs. I like to grapple and hold down my opponent, yeah I do the occasional hand to hand combat but my legs are my strong point."

He nodded then sized me up, he walked around me with his chin in between his index finger and thumb and his other arm crossed over his abdomen.

"Your legs, huh? Why don't we use that as your defense instead of your arms? Of course, you'll be using them but your legs will be the focal point."

"How?" I was sceptical about his theory but decided to give it shot. Aki and Zuki are still talking but this time, they're talking about the new picture Aki drew at school today.

"You say you like to grapple but what part of the body do you trap the most?" He questioned, curiously.

"The legs," I say simply.

"Why?"

"Because they're the easiest and there's more of it to trap."

"And the arms?"

"I let them use it to tap out."

"Do you hear what's wrong with that sentence?"

I think it over but nope, nothing wrong comes to mind with that sentence. He must've sensed my confusion because he answers it for me.

"You're not your opponent."

"I'm fucking confused, what's that supposed to mean?" I actually forgot Aki was there so I decided not to look over at him but I know he heard me. It's rear for me to cuss when he's around, let alone Zuki.

"Just because your legs are your strongest attack doesn't mean your opponent is weak with their arms just like you are," he stated easily.

"I guess," I say defeated.

"Let's start with your grappling, since you're familiar in that area."

I nod, ready for a challenge.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chap. Sorry for the lateness, no excuses from me. Do tell me if you want me to write the training scene in the next chap. I appreciate the follows, favourites and reviews 3**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the lyrics. The song is called Autumn Leaves by Chris Brown.**

**Love y'all,**

**Kays x**


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